Brothers
by Dracona Malfoy
Summary: Fred and George find secrets in their dad's diary - LuciusxArthur - NOT SLASH COMPLETE
1. My other leg

Title: Brothers  
Author: Dracona Malfoy  
e-mail: obake_project@hotmail.com  
Beta reader: Ludmila Souza, Christine C and Beans  
Category: Angst  
Ratings: PG  
Summary: Fred and George find secrets in their dad's diary.  
Spoilers: Only Time  
Status: complete

Brothers

Chapter 1 - My other leg

A hot, pleasant afternoon in the garden had just turned to a warm, cozy, evening for the Weasley family at the Burrow.

They were without the stubborn Percy for the second summer running as he had moved to London last year and seldom came to visit. But, via invitation from Ron they had gained Hermione as part of the family for the rest of the holidays.

Therefore the house a hive of activity and extremely crowded; wherever you went there was never a room that wasn't filled with people. So much so that meals had to be taken out in the large backyard, the kitchen had long since become too small for the number of mouths that had to be fed.

Fred and George ran grinning up the narrow stairs of the Burrow and straight up to their parents's bedroom. With everyone else helping with the dinner preparations being made outside their disappearance would hopefully go unnoticed.

For a while now they had been intent on recovering a very important ingredient to the latest product from Weasley Geminalities, but their task had been made extremely difficult as Molly refused to give them a break. But right now the house was full, and their mother was busy with tonights meal, it was the perfect opportunity.

With extreme care, Fred stepped forward and gingerly turned the knob to the room. As the door swung soundlessly open they grinned at each other and padded inside.

"I wonder where she put the roundaround stingers?" George murmured, thinking aloud as he began to open drawers.

"I've got no idea. Have you had a look at her dresser?" Fred queried, going through the upper part of his parent's closet.

"Hey! What's this?" he asked, dusting off a tattered, worn-out looking book with a green cover.

"Have you found them?" Fred asked anxiously looking up from his search.

"I found something." George stated. "But not what we're looking for." he answered examining the cover.

"A.W.'s Diary." he read aloud.

"A diary?" Suprisingly Fred sounded vaguely worried. "You'd better leave it right there. Those diaries can be dangerous. Don't you remember what happened to Ginny?"

"That was _You Know Who's_ diary! This is _Dad's_. Glancing at it won't get us killed. Besides, aren't you curious?" Fred's worried look was fading as his brother continued cajoling.

"Mom always says we take after Dad when it comes to playing pranks. But Dad doesn't have a twin, or any brothers that are his age. Now we can find out who she was talking about."

Fred nodded, gently closing the desk drawer and turning to face his twin.

"No he doesn't, not at all. Uncle Bilius was almost 15 years older than him. So they can't have been fellow pranksters at Hogwarts."

"Herein may lay the answer to all our questions about Dad, dear brother." said George with a dreamy expression in his face as he looked at the diary.

"But what if he misses it?" said Fred, walking to and fro, rubbing his hands, ransacking his brain for a safe solution.

"Bingo!" he said, raising a finger and Disapparating.

"Fred?" called out George, looking around.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed seconds later as Fred apparated with a crack on his lap.

"Sorry." said Fred, climbing off of his brother.

"I've still gotta train this a bit more."

"So did you have any ideas?" asked George drily.

"Oh, yeah." said Fred, showing him the book he now held in his hands.

"_Your_ diary?" George commented acidly staring at the diary Fred had received last Christmas from some aunt and never used.

"Oops." said Fred, pointing his wand to his diary and murmuring some enchantments.

"Not anymore." he said grinning, handing his brother the diary. It was now green with the intials A.W printed neatly in the corner.

"Great, now he won't miss it! But we'd better get outta here now, before Mom figures out we're being too quiet and comes looking for us." said George, making his way to the door.

"What about the stings?"

"Never mind those. We got something better." he patted the book with a smile. Reaching his hand toward the door he suddenly froze.

"Did you make a noise?"

"What noise?" Fred replied also stopping.

"Oh dear. Trouble." said George, and Disapparated. Without waiting around, Fred followed suit.

"Fred? George?" called Molly, walking inside her bedroom.

"I could have sworn they were here." she mumured, looking around the empty room before closing the door.

"That was close," said Fred, leaning his back against his bedroom door as he considered how near they'd come to being found out.

"George?" he ventured.

"Ouch," a weak voice answered.

"Oops! Sorry." said Fred, getting off his brother.

He dismissed any fears he had about discovery as he heard his mother's footsteps go back down the stairs and turned eagerly to Fred.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Open the diary."

His brother hauled himself to his feet and crossed the room to their small desk. Shoving parchments covered with designs onto the floor, Fred pulled in one of the chairs and sat down opening the diary.

"Haste makes waste, my dear brother", he replied, taking quill and ink and turning to write in the first page:

"Hello, my name is Fred. Oh, and George says hi, too."

"_Hello, my name is Arthur,_" answered the diary. "_How did you get my diary, Fred and George? Does your mother know you have it_?"

"Now what?" Fred asked his brother. "It won't tell us a thing"

"Look and learn," said George as he leaned forward taking the quill.

"We got it as an inheritance when you died_."_

"You can't do that!" Fred exclaimed. "He's gonna think he's dead!"

"It's just a diary. It's not Dad. These are just thing he wrote." shrugged George.

"_And your mother?" _quilled the diary in Arthur's scratchy handwriting.

"Dead, too_._" wrote Fred, taking the quill from his brother.

"What?" he queried as his brother laughed. "You started it."

"_And you are alone? Charlie, Bill and Percy are okay?"_

"Bill married a veela and moved out, Charlie is still studying dragons in Romania and we _threw _Percy out. But Ron and Ginny still live here." wrote George, taking another quill.

"_You threw him out?_

"Where would we get anyone to marry him? He's such a pain!"

"And who are Ron and Ginny?"

"The youngest." answered Fred.

"He doesn't know about Ron, so he must have stopped writing before he was born." observed George.

"Ah. Well, you won't feel lonely, then."

"Unlikely, really. But tell us, when did you stop writing in the diary?", asked George.

"A little bit after you were born."

"Why?"

"Somebody very dear had died. Someone really close."

"Someone like a brother?" asked Fred, looking at George with an air of triumph.

"Yes. I felt like I had lost a leg."

"Wow. This guy must be the one Dad made pranks with at Hogwarts." observed Fred.

"And who was this person?" he wrote quickly.

"_I can't tell you._" Scrawled the diary, causing Fred and George to pout. "_But I can show you_."

From the book came a bright yellow light, the pages suddenly started turning at a dizzying speed, blinding the twins as they fought to tear their eyes away. They tried to pull back from the book, but it was too late: they were being sucked right into the diary.

George fell painfully right onto a solid concrete floor and hardly had time to duck before his brother came falling down after him.

"You think I'm your mattress or something, Fred?" asked George sourly, looking around them.

"How did we get to the train station so fast?" he asked aloud.

"Will you close your mouth?" he asked, looking at the shocked expression on his brother's face, who was pointing at a group of people.

"It's Dad…," murmured Fred, covering his mouth with his hand.

"… and Lucius Malfoy." finished George, recognizing the blond boy next to their father, with, more suprisingly still a warm smile on his his face.


	2. Cutie

Chapter Two - Cutie

"Dad and Lucius Malfoy… Lucius Malfoy smiling… Dad smiling back… That's it, I'm nuts. I don't think I feel so good", said Fred, with an expression of disgust clutching his stomach with his hands.

"There must be a logical explanation for this." said George, still flabbergasted.

"Yes, there is. Didn't you hear me?" asked Fred. "Dad and Malfoy walk around together and are happy. Malfoy smiles. Dad smiles back. Hence, you and I have lost all our marbles! We're crazy, brother! Our experiment must have gone wrong. Maybe I'm ill. Yes, that's it – an illness."

Fred was reasoning more to himself than to his brother. George kept looking around, trying to recognize somebody else. But it was useless. This was not their time. The uniforms were a bit different and the hairstyles were changed. Aside from the train station itself, nothing else looked familiar.

He tried to touch the wall, but his hand went right through it. He tried to talk to the Hogwarts students around them, but they didn't hear him.

"We're here as observers, Fred. We can't interfere. That's why they don't answer." said George to his twin, who ignored him and kept on repeating like a mantra that all of this was a botched experience and he should have listened to his mother.

"Listen to me, Fred!" he said urgently, holding his brother's face in his hands. "You are not crazy. Neither am I. We are inside Dad's memories, in his diary."

"But if we are inside Dad's diary, where's Dad?" asked Fred, looking for his father everywhere, as the whistle of the train warned of its imminent departure to Hogwarts.

"Damn! We're gonna miss the train." he said urgently, taking his brother by the hand and hopping inside the nearest carriage.

"That was close," said Fred, wiping his face. "Can you see him?"

"No. He must be inside one of the cabins." said George. "Let's go looking for him."

The twins peeked over students's shoulders when they opened cabin doors, since they couldn't touch them. But it didn't take them long to find the right cabin.

Their father and Malfoy were in the last one, the same one Harry and Ron liked to sit in.

"_Are you still nervous_?" asked Arthur.

"_I was just thinking, Artie. What if we don't get the same house?"_

"Artie? It makes me sick." observed George, watching the scene in front of him.

"He doesn't look like Draco much. Just that hair and his eye colour. Other than that, nothing." said Fred, examining the boy with short, blond hair to his right. "But Dad is Ron's image cast in stone."

"_Then we can ask for a transfer to the other's house,_" suggested Arthur hopefully, after thinking a while.

"_Or we can destroy the school._" said Lucius smiling.

"_That's an option._" agreed Arthur, smiling back.

At that point, the yellow, blinding light came back once more, bathing the cabin in its ghoulish light.

"Where are we?" asked George, blinking repeatedly, trying to make his eyes useful again.

"I just hate these special effects." said Fred, looking around him. "I think this is the corridor near the Transfigurations classroom. Where are those two?"

"_Run!_" heard George before seeing the two young men, now at the age of 15, running towards them, followed by several explosions.

"There they are!" said Fred, pointing at them and following them, Goerge at his heels.

"_This way, Artie_!" called Lucius, before entering an empty classroom.

"_Won't Filch find us_?" asked Arthur, shaking, as he closed the door.

"_I hope not_", answered the blond youngster, putting up a Silencing Spell and brushing a lock of hair that insisted on falling over his eyes.

"_That was close,_" said the red-haired boy, "_We were so careless, Luc._" he said, laughing.

"_You should cut your hair_" he added.

"_Reckless, me? You were the one that threw Dung Bombs at Filch's filthy cat," _protested Lucius. "_But it was so worth it. Did you see his face? I should have taken my camera._" he said, laughing out loud.

"_And there's nothing wrong with my hair._" he pouted, blowing a raspberry at hiss companion.

"_Merlin! Filch is the least of my problems! Old McGonagall will go starkers when she finds that bunch of cat food in her classroom."_

said Arthur.

"_But where did you get so much material to transfigure?" he _asked Lucius, curious.

"Why don't you use some hair gel? It's annoying to see you arranging your hair all the time!"

"I took something from the laundry." shrugged Lucius. _"Hair gel? Nah. Too sticky. I think I'll let it grow longer."_

"What exactly did you take from the laundry?"

"Hufflepuff knickers." answered Lucius, with a wicked grin.

"How come we never thought of this?" observed George.

"He really makes us feel stupid." Fred shook his head.

"_I don't believe what you've done, you dissimulated veela_!" said Arthur hotly. _"They'll figure out we did it in a minute_!" he said, charging the blond boy.

"_They'll never doubt me, or you." _SaidLucius, ducking Arthur's advances. _"Unless you're taking somebody's knickers besides Molly's."_

"I'd never do that!" murmured Arthur, as his ears became the same color as his hair.

"Merlin, Artie!" said Lucius. "_Why didn't you ever tell me you were gay?" _he teased, a smile in his lips as he got to a safe distance from his friend.

"Oh, you -.." snarled Arthur before tackling his friend to the floor and pouncing on him.

"FIGHT! FIGHT!" cheered Fred.

"_It was just a joke!" _explained Lucius, trying to dodge Arthur's punches. "_Just think, you'll be laughing at this in a couple of years from now."_

"That's the father we know and love." said George, his chest swelling with pride.

"I doubt it", snarled Arthur, pulling Lucius's collor and pinning him against the wall.

"_Watch it, Artie, be careful!_" exclaimed the blond, "_Madam Malkin charged me a fortune for this shirt._"

He sighed. "_You in a snit is even worse than my mother in a snit. And she spits fire and has wings!" _he said, making his friend eventually control himself.

"_Just don't joke about Molly again, OK?" _asked Arthur, releasing Lucius.

"_You like her don't you?"_ he querieded. "_Why didn't you tell me before, you jerk? I wouldn't make a joke out of someone you like._" he said, obtaining a shrug from his friend.

"_At least not behind your back." _he tried to finish, as he got a suspicious look from Arthur.

"All right. I confess. I was gonna mock you anyway. But that's normal. After all, you're my friend."

"Friend only?" asked Arthur, his eyes like a puppy's.

"All right. All right. You closeted lug! You're more than my friend. You're like my brother, happy now?"

"You know, this jerk is not such a jerk after all." said Fred to his brother, gesturing at Lucius.

"_Do you really think so?" _asked Artur, his eyes filled with tears, and he got a nod fromt he blond boy.

"_You're such a cutie!" _he exclaimed, and squeezed Lucius in a tight hug.

"_You're gay! Gerroff me!" _shouted Lucius, trying to get away from his friend.


	3. Family

Chapter 3 - Family

Once more Fred and George were bathed by the yellow light that spread around the room.

"Not again!" complained George squeezing his eyes shut.

"Amateur!" said Fred, taking off his shades. "There they are!" he pointed to a tree near the lake.

"_By Merlin! What happed to your eye_?" asked the boy with red hair seeing the purple bruise around his friend's right eye.

"_My eye collided with some Muggle-borns." _shrugged the long-haired blond boy.

"What happened to Mudbloods?" asked George, amazed.

"Does this mean you won't come with us to the Muggle snackhouse?" asked Arthur sadly.

"One thing has nothing to do with another, Artie. I won't change my plans because of some revolting Muggles." said Lucius stiffly_. "I've got as much right to go there as they got to come here."_

"You should go to the Headmaster, Lucius." said the girl with copper-coloured hair.

"No way, Molly. That old fool doesn't like Slytherins. He may even take away points from me for fighting." retorted Lucius, a wicked grin in his lips. "_Besides, they already got what they deserved."_

"I can't believe you sent some of them to the infirmary!" said Arthur hotly.

"It wasn't me. It was Bellatrix!" said Lucius defensively.

"Bellatrix? As in Bellatrix Lestrange?" asked a horrified Fred to his brother.

"Then you should be glad somebody defended you!" said Molly.

"If it were someone else, I'd be, Mol. But that girl gives me the willies." said Lucius, shaking his head.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just don't like her. Something is rotten there." he said. "_Really rotten."_

"There sure is! She is a Death Eater, you jerk!" George shouted at Lucius, knowing fully well he wouldn't hear him.

"Maybe you're just holding a grudge against her, Luc. She can't be that bad. Look at the rest of her family." said Arthur.

"Yes, you may be right, Artie. Her wicked little cousin is not so bad altogether. He's actually very funny. And Cisa, well, she's..." Lucius stopped when he felt his face's temperature rising considerably.

"That Sirius is a pest." mumbled Molly.

"What were you saying about Narcissa?" pressured Arthur, with a sly grin, making Molly stop her mumbling.

"Ah, she's really something. That body, those eyes and hair.." Lucius sighed, lying on the grass. "_And she's so funny." _he continued, with a dreamy expression.

"I think someone's in love", observed Molly.

"_It's not an infatuation, Molly," _said Lucius, sitting up. _"It's more than that. I can't explain it. It's just that, when I look at her, I have good thoughts. She makes me think things I've never thought before." _he said, looking at his friends's amazed expression.

"_She makes me want to use a leash and an imbecile sign." _he said in a very low voice, looking around.

"She makes you think of sadomasochism?!" asked Molly, horrified, making Arthur roll on the grass laughing.

"That's not what I meant!" said Lucius, his face burning with embarassment. "_What I meant was that when I look at her I think of tacky things like wedding bands and marriage," _he explained, _"and a little house with children and..."_

"_All right, all right. I've got it!_" interrupted Molly.

"That's so cute! Our little Lucius has turned into a young man" joked Arthur, hugging his friend and making his girlfriend laugh.

"I'm proud of you!" he said, kissing his cheek.

"_Why don't you call her to come with us?" _suggested Molly.

"_Would she? I don't know... what if she doesn't like me?" _asked Lucius, trying to dodge Arthur, who now was jokingly caressing his hair.

"_Of course she does, Luc. Why else would she spy on you from afar?" _winked Arthur, holding his friend and pointing at a blond figure across the lake.

"_Gerroff me, Artie. You knew she was there and you still attacked me!" _accused Lucius. "_This is so embarassing._" he murmured, getting up.

"_That's what family is about, Luc!_" shouted his friend, as he got farther away.

At that moment, Fred and George were hit by the blinding light again.

"Where are we?" asked George, taking off his shades.

"Lack of originality kills, I hope you know that." said Fred, also taking off his shades.

"Wow! Was that what he meant when he said a little house?" he said, pointing at the Malfoy Manor.

"If that's a little house, we live in a shoe box!" said George.

"There's Mum, Dad and...", he pointed at the arriving guests.

"... Bill, Charlie, Percy and us" finished Fred.

"Wow... Percy was even stranger then than he is now." he observed, frowning as he got nearer to the couple who knocked at the huge door.

"Uncle Artie!" shouted a blond girl of six years of age, throwing herself in Arthur's arms.

"_I missed you_!", she smiled, kissing him.

"I missed you, too." he said, putting the girl on the ground as she ran to Molly_._

"And your Mum and Dad? I hope he's not in front of the mirror again".

"I didn't know Malfoy had a daughter." said George.

"_Mum's in the library reading to Isabele, and Dad's upstairs. We were playing when you knocked._" said the little girl, holding on to Molly's legs.

"_Do you know that it's going to be a girl, sweetheart?" _asked Molly, as Arthur went up the stairs.

"No, but I chose the name anyway!" she shrugged.

"_Come on, let's play_!" she called out the boys.

"Come, let's follow Dad." urged Fred, climbing up the stairs.

"Don't you think you're too old to play with dolls, Luc?" asked Arthur, leaning against the door, watching his friend, a fully-grown man with long, platinum hair, animating dolls with his wand.

"_Cisa can't play with Julie anymore because of her pregnancy, so here I am" _replied Lucius, with a huge grin.

"Look what I can do", he said, pointing his wand to four dolls in military uniforms, that were singing and joyfully dancing to some Beatles songs.

"_Stop this hellish Muggle music, Lucius!_" shouted a ghost behind Lucius.

"_Good afternoon, Arthur!"_ greeted the apparition politely seeing the red-haired man at the door.

"_Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy." _answered Arthur with equal politeness.

"The band may be Muggle, Dad. But the music is sheer magic." retorted Lucius, making the ghost leave the room fuming and snarling something about how Muggle rebels deserved to die.

"_Don't mind him, he doesn't know what he's saying. Let's go get something to eat."_

And once more the yellow light flooded the room, covering Fred and George.

"We're home!" said George, looking around.

"Are you sure? It looks so neat." observed Fred. "Look there."

"That's a good one, Charlie." said Arthur between bouts of laughter.

"I don't get it", said Percy, pouting.

"You wouldn't recognise a joke if it danced naked in your face!" said Bill, making everybody laugh, except for Percy.

"Excuse me", said Lucius Malfoy, getting out of the fireplace.

"_Now that's better." _he said, after spelling out the Floo powder from his clothes.

"Hello Lucius!" greeted Molly.

"_Arthur, Lucius is here." _she called her husband.

"Luc, is there something wrong?" asked Arthur, as he got up Bill and Charlie following him.

"Hi Uncle Luc!" said the boys.

"Hi you." said Lucius, smiling.

"_You tell me, Artie. You were the one who called me and asked me to come here."_

"You must have dreamt it, Luc. I didn't call you" said Arthur, seeing all the blood in Lucius's face drain away.

"_Where are you going?" _he asked alarmed, watching his friend throw some Floo powder in the fireplace.

"Malfoy Manor!" shouted Lucius, before disappearing in the green flames.

And a light even more blinding than all others flooded the room, tearing everything it touched and taking Fred and George with it.

"What the heck was that?" asked George, afraid to open his eyes.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" complained Fred, thrwoing away his shades.

"_Lucius! Lucius!"_ called Arthur, entering the manor's main office.

"By Merlin! What happened here?" he asked, looking at the huge sheets of smoke billowing inside the room.

"_Arthur?" _called Narcissa, in a weak voice huddled on the floor covered with soot.

"_Are you all right?" _asked Arthur, seeing her nod. "_Where's Julie?"_

"_They came, Arthur!_" she was crying. "_I tried to take her out of there, but I couldn't stop the fire."_

"_Let's get you out of here first." _he said, putting her inside the fireplace and throwing the powder.

"_The Burrow_!" he shouted, running to the stairs.

"Let's go!", called Fred.

"_Lucius_!" said Arthur, seeing his friend coming down the stairs with a small body in his arms. "_Is she...?" _he asked, tears rolling down his face.

"The girl" said George, and it was the only thing he could say before the blinding light covered him once more.

"_Ma bébé! My baby!_" screamed Narcissa, throwing herself over the marble slate in front of her.

"_Narcissa, dear. Try and calm down_", said Molly, trying to get her away from the slate. "_Breathe in deeply... Yes... Just like that..." _she shushed her friend while her own tears kept flowing freely.

"Why are they crying?" asked Fred. "Good heavens! Look at that, George", he pointed to the slate.

"Julie Anne Malfoy - 1973-1979." read George aloud.


	4. Dust

Chapter Four - Dust

"I don't see Dad, George." said Fred, trying to overcome the sad scene in front of him.

"He went that way." said George, wiping the tears that insisted on rolling down his face. "Let's go."

"_Think about it, Lucius."_ said a woman with golden hair and insinuating voice, before parting from him.

"I know that hag." breathed Fred between his teeth when the woman was far away.

"_Are you all right, Luc?"_ asked Arthur in a worried voice, getting near his friend.

"What do you think? I've just buried my daughter!" he answered harshly.

"_Never better._" he finished sarcastically. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"You have every right to be upset." said Arthur.

"They will pay." murmured Lucius beneath his breath. _"Even if it's the last thing l ever do."_

"What are you talking about, Luc?"

"_The damned Mudbloods that broke into my home."_ he answered, his back still to Arthur.

"_You can't be serious."_ said Arthur. _"Bellatrix put those things in your head, didn't she?"_

"I knew that I knew her!" said Fred.

"_I've no idea what you're talking about."_ said Lucius, turning towards his friend.

"_You can't just go setting Muggles homes on fire, Luc."_ urged Arthur.

"You say that because it wasn't your daughter who died in that fire!" shouted Lucius.

"You have no idea what it is to hear her calling my name and screaming for help every time my head hits the pillow." he said in a very low voice.

"Do as you wish, Luc. But don't expect my blessing." said Arthur in a defeated voice.

Once again, that strong yellow light bathed Fred and George.

"We're back home!" said Fred looking around.

"Dad!" George pointed to the man sitting at the table.

"_You have got to cheer up, beloved. You've been looking like this for weeks."_ said Molly, extremely concerned.

"_I'm sorry."_ apologized Arthur. _"I'm worried, that's all"_ he said with a sad smile.

"_Still worried about Lucius?"_ she asked in a gentle voice.

"_Can't help it. We haven't talked in weeks. I'm afraid he might do something stupid."_ he said in a weak voice.

"_You don't believe he could hurt himself, do you?"_ asked Molly, alarmed.

"No, he couldn't hurt himself" he said, looking at his wife_. "But he could hurt other people."_

For yet another time, Fred and George were dragged away to another memory, but this time they weren't bathed by that strange light.

Instead, they were greeted by deep darkness and feelings of coldness and despair.

"Dementors?" asked Fred, trembling, trying to find one of Azkaban's former guards amongst the crowd of running screaming people in the street.

"Worse. The Dark Mark." answered George, pointing at the huge sign hovering over a number of houses. "Come on!" he said, grabbing his brother's hand and dragging him towards a house where he saw a man with red hair entering.

"_Incendio_!" shouted the blond man in black robes to the Mudblood that was lying at the floor with his clothes drenched in alcohol.

"By Merlin!" said Fred, watching the man being consumed by the flames as George turned his face away.

"_Expelliarmus_!" shouted Arthur, making the Death Eater crash against the wall, the impact disarming him.

"Accio wand." he said, catching the hooded man's wand in his hand.

"Why, Luc?" asked Arthur, looking at the carbonised body in front of him.

"_He was the last one of them."_ said Lucius, getting closer to the pile of ashes. _"Nobody is ever going to get near our family again."_

"Our family?" repeated Arthur, his head cast down.

"You are my family too. Just like Cisa and the baby. I'd never let anything happen to you" said Lucius, his eyes fixed on the ashes.

"You'd protect us from anything, wouldn't you?"

"From anyone and anything" said Lucius, looking at Arthur.

"So would I" he said, looking his friend in the eye for a moment, before holding him.

"Even if it means protecting you from yourself, Luc. Petrificus Totalus!" he said, pointing his want to the blond man's back.

"Lucius Malfoy, in the name of the Ministry of Magic, you are under arrest for murdering a Muggle-born."

A thick, gloomy fog flooded the room, and Fred and George felt themselves being dragged to another memory.

"This is getting really spooky, George." said Fred, shaking with cold, with his features quite bleak.

"Cold... So cold..." said George, looking around, trying to identify the place where they were.

"But this is…" he was interrupted by his father's arrival.

"Five minutes, Mr. Weasley. If he puts up a fuss, just call on us" said a middle-aged man with a frightening appearance.

"But don't worry, we got enough Dementors to keep away this sort of scum from good people."

"Azkaban." said Fred. "Hell on earth." he added, more to himself than to his brother.

"Luc?" asked Arthur to the man with blond hair crouched by the corner of the cell, mumbling unintelligible words.

"Luc?" he tried again, harder, with the same result. _"For Merlin's sake, Luc. It's me, Artie"_ he said, in tears.

"_Artie_?" asked Lucius, with a thin voice and vacant eyes.

"Yes, it's Artie" answered Arthur with a sad smile.

"Where is she?" asked Lucius, getting near the iron bars where Arthur was. _"She was here just now."_

"There was nobody here", said Arthur, confused.

"Impossible! She was here. She said she came to wait for me." babbled Lucius, disturbed.

"She who, Luc?" urged Arthur, holding his friend's face between the bars.

"_Julie._" answered Lucius. _"I've got to go back, Artie. She must be there. She must be waiting for me. She, Cisa and the baby. Yes… yes, that's it. You've got to help me"_ he panicked, pulling Arthur by his collar.

"Get me out of here." he murmured in the red-haired man's ear.

"I'm sorry, but I can't." said Arthur gravely as he tried to get away from the bars.

"You can't leave me here." said Lucius, his eyes filled with tears.

"I've got to go home, don't you understand?"

"Cisa and the baby can visit the place where you'll be after the trial." said Arthur, looking at the ground.

"You're not well, Luc. You're babbling things and you see things that are not there."

"You want me sent to St. Mungo's." realized Lucius, in horror.

"They are going to take good care of you there, I'm sure." said Arthur sadly, looking at his friend, as he stood up to get out.

"I AM NOT INSANE!" bellowed Lucius, charging against the bars when he realized Arthur was leaving.__

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE, YOU TRAITOR!" he screeched at the top of his lungs_._

"You had to be at my side, not theirs. I hate you, you bloody traitor" he said, crying._ "I HATE YOU!" _he shouted, before falling in tears to the ground, as Arthur headed to the exit, wiping his face with his hands, trying to control the tears that wouldn't stop.

The cold prison air was flooded by the yellow light, to which Fred and George knew so well, consuming everything it touched and plunging the twins back into their own reality.

Back in their room, Fred and George were practically thrown at the floor, due to the violence with which the small worn-out diary with the green cover sent them back. Still stunned by the travel, they didn't realize the diary was turning its pages at a frantic speed and shutting itself.

"George?" called Fred, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not again!" complained George, trying to get his brother off him.

"Sorry", said Fred, helping his brother to his feet.

"You were right… We shouldn't have opened this diary." said George sadly. "Did you just make a noise?"

"No," answered Fred slowly. "He did", he pointed at his father, who had just Apparated in their room.

"Why the long faces, boys?" asked Arthur concerned. "What have you two done now?" he added.

"Nothing, Dad" Fred rushed to say, looking at the worn-out diary that was lying on the desk.

"Nothing we don't have a good excuse for." added George, seeing his father taking the diary in his hands.

"I see" said Arthur, with a sad smile, his fingers travelling over the letters in the cover.

"I think we better get down, boys." he said, with a frank smile to his sons as he put the diary back on the desk.

"Everyone's waiting for us – dinner." he said, going to the door, followed by the twins.

"Do you ever regret anything, Dad?" asked George hesitatingly.

"Yeah, Dad, about the things in your diary?" added Fred, making Arthur turn around to face them.

"Only about the things I didn't do." he answered sincerely. "Now let's go, I'm famished" he finished, winking at them and marching towards the hallway.

The End


End file.
